In an effort to limit the number of follow-ups necessary to monitor the device and the data that it acquires, an advanced patient management system may provide a communication infrastructure. This infrastructure allows the implantable medical device to communicate over long distances at virtually any time with a backend system that monitors the implantable device and the patient. Furthermore, this backend system allows monitoring of the patient on a more frequent basis than ordinary follow-up visits can practically allow. The back end system communicates with the implantable device through a repeater that the patient keeps in close proximity. The conventional repeater device interrogates the medical device through some form of wireless communication such as inductive coupling. The repeater device retrieves data from the medical device and transmits the data through another communication medium, such as a standard telephone line, to the remote location.
Some conventional repeater devices form a direct line of communication between the medical device and the remote location and thereby act as a conduit for the data. Generally, the patient operates these conventional repeater devices and must initiate the communication of the data at appropriate times. Other conventional repeater devices may retrieve the data from the medical device at an appropriate time and maintain it until another appropriate time when it is sent to the remote location. However, the patient must also initiate the communication between these conventional repeater devices and the remote location, or the repeater device uses a preset timer to initiate communication without regard for additional considerations.
Requiring the patient to initiate communication with the remote location is overly burdensome, especially in situations where the repeater device collects data at one time and then at some later time sends the data to the remote location. Furthermore, requiring the patient to initiate communications with the remote location makes the advanced patient management system vulnerable to human error. Relying solely on a preset timer to initiate communications with the remote location is also problematic. For example, the telephone line relied upon by the repeater device may be in use or is otherwise unavailable at the preset time, or an emergency situation may be occurring that requires immediate attention rather than communication after a preset delay period.